37,700 Shares in Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. $WMS Acquired by Weiss Asset Management LP

Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 37,700 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,170,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMS. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,551,901 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $353,949,000 after acquiring an additional 75,777 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 32.9% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,204,801 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $302,290,000 after purchasing an additional 546,298 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 80.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,279,576 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $185,324,000 after purchasing an additional 572,193 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Advanced Drainage Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,271,453 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $184,184,000 after purchasing an additional 15,069 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Advanced Drainage Systems by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,264,156 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $183,088,000 after purchasing an additional 75,250 shares during the last quarter. 89.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Advanced Drainage Systems from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Advanced Drainage Systems from $195.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Advanced Drainage Systems from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 22nd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.00.

Advanced Drainage Systems Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Advanced Drainage Systems stock opened at $142.05 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.70. The company has a market cap of $10.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.26. Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $110.85 and a fifty-two week high of $179.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.42.

Advanced Drainage Systems (NYSE:WMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The construction company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.12. Advanced Drainage Systems had a return on equity of 26.63% and a net margin of 13.98%.The firm had revenue of $676.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $651.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Drainage Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Advanced Drainage Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Advanced Drainage Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 14.71%.

Advanced Drainage Systems Profile

Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc (NYSE: WMS) is a leading manufacturer and supplier of water management solutions in North America. Headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio, the company specializes in the design, production and distribution of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) drainage pipe and related products. Its core business addresses stormwater management, on-site septic systems and erosion control for residential, commercial and infrastructure projects.

The company’s product portfolio includes corrugated plastic pipe, tubing, fittings, geocells, geogrids and stormwater structures such as inlets, manholes and detention/retention systems.